68 



• • • GARDENING. 



Nov. 75, 



1 would add that the I'/a-inch pipe I 

 used under the bench was second-hand 

 material, purchased at scrap iron prices. 



The question naturally arises what can 

 a person grow in so small a place? I will 

 tell you. With the aid of the cellar, which 

 I use as a sort of cool storage place, I am 

 enabled to bringintobloom a fine display 

 of flowering bulbs, or some specimen 

 plants, and there is scarcelj' a day 

 during the winter when one of the 

 windows in my dwelling is without a 

 plant or plants in bloom. It may be 

 quite a pretentious display of hyacinths, 

 narcissus, jonquils or freesias, or it may 

 be a single plant ofEpiphylluni truncatum, 

 azalea, rhododendron, or an amaryllis of 

 some choice variety. In addition to these 

 I grow a few plants of heliotrope, agera- 

 tum, sweet al3'ssum and other soft 

 wooded plants, from which my dining 

 table is frequently supplied with cut 

 flowers. From the blooming of the 

 Roman hyacinths and narcissus, just 

 before the Christmas holidays, until late 

 in the spring, I am never without some 

 blooming plant or bulb from my small 

 and inexpensive greenhouse. M. H Jr. 



Altoona, Pa., Oct. 28, 1895. 



It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Planted out in the flower garden in sum- 

 mer it keeps in bloom the whole season, 

 and as a pot plant for greenhouse decora- 

 tion it is also applicable and pretty all 

 winter. Although it may be raised from 

 seed when these are obtainable, it is easily 

 propagated from cuttings and by this 

 latter mode is the way in which it is gen- 

 erally increased. Either for indoor or 

 outdoor use raise fresh plants every year. 



TAB GREENflOUSB IN NOVEMBER. 



Besides chrysanthemums, orchids, car- 

 nations, roses and violets, we have a good 

 many other plants now in bloom in the 

 greenhouses. Among them are Statice 

 arborescens, a blue flowered almost ever- 

 blooming plant. Saintpaulia ionantha, 

 an ever-blooming blue flowered relation 

 of the gloxinia, of the easiest culture in a 

 warm greenhouse; begonias Rubra, Presi- 

 dent Carnot, Semperflorens rosea and 

 Nitida; abutilons in variety; Pancratium 

 ovatum, an evergreen species which re- 

 quires onlj- a partial rest in summer; 

 Allamanda grandiSora and Clerodendron 

 BaUourianum; Ruellia macrantha. a plant 

 of easy culture with rose-crimson flowers; 

 the pretty white pea flowered Swainsoaa 

 gakgifoUa; the beautiful pendulous 

 basket plant, JEschynanthus Lobbianus, 

 with odd-looking rich scarlet flowers, and 

 the pink and white varieties of cosmos, 

 than which no more beautiful flowered 

 plants exist, they have an airy graceful 

 beauty all their own. For greenhouse 

 decoration sow the seeds in March or 

 April and take cuttings from these about 

 the middle of June. Those planted out- 

 side were killed by the frost very early 

 this year with us. We have also callas, 

 bouvardias, blue marguerites, sweet 

 al3'ssum, heliotropeand berried solanums, 

 and shall soon have mignonette. 



The florists around here a re forcing sweet 

 peas largely this winter, they do excei- 

 lently in pots or boxes. As regards green- 

 house plants the chief cultural points to 

 observe now are: Don'tover water, con- 

 sider whether the plant has weak or 

 vigorous root-action, give flowering 

 plants full sunlight; admit air on all 

 favorable occasions, but avoid cold 

 draughts; see to the potting, or boxing 

 of Dutch and other bulbs for winter 

 decoration. Wm. Fitzwillia.m. 



Baronald, Orange, N. J. 



The Blue Marguerite {Agathiea 

 ccElestis). — Apropos of Mr. Fitzwilliam's 

 reference to this plant, lest some of our 

 readers, unacquainted with it, may think 

 it is a blue flowered form of the white 

 marguerite or Paris daisy ( Chrysanthe- 

 mum frutescens) we may say that it is 

 very different. It is a dense, bushy, ever- 

 green, herbaceous perennial, with moder- 

 ately small, simple leaves, and a profu- 

 sion of blue a.ster or daisv-like blossoms. 



VIOLETS IN THE GREBNflOUSB. 



J. R., N. Y., writes: "My violets have 

 been in the greenhouse two weeks and 

 are beginning to put out good blossoms, 

 though not very many. I find it difficult 

 to keep the temperature below 65° in the 

 day time when the sun is out, but it goes 

 much lower at night with all ventilators 

 closed. While I want as much bloom as 

 possible I do not want to force them. 

 Must I make an effort to keep a more 

 even temperature?" 



The day tempera ' ure of your greenhouse 

 is all right for violets. A night tempera- 

 ture of 45° by artificial means, higher if 

 need be by natural warmth, and a day heat 

 with sunshine of 60° to 65° in winter are 

 w hat commercial florists usually adopt for 

 their violets. In an amateur's greenhouse 

 where violets arc only one of many kinds 

 of plants grown, what we call a cool 

 house, that is one in which carnations, 

 geraniums, and the like are grown will 

 also do for violets. But above all things 

 avoid a high temperature, a close atmos- 

 phere, and over-dryness. 



FflNDflNUS VEITCflll. 



F. C. II. R., Abilene, Texas, writes: 'T 

 have a jjlant of Pandanus Vcitcbii that 

 has two young shoots about two inches 

 long on its stem. Can I not use these to 

 propagate from? If so, how can it be 

 done?" 



Yes, it is from the sidesproutsonly that 

 this screw pine is propagated, butd^n't 

 touch \ ours yet awhile, wait until they 

 have grown six or eight inches long, then 

 cut them off' clean with a wee bit of the 

 skin of the stem attached to each, and 

 pot them into small pots firmly filled with 

 sand or sandy soil, and keep in a warm, 

 shady spot in your greenhouse, and espe- 

 cially away from where the least draught 

 can strike them, and don't put them under 

 other plants. Sometimes the sprouts 

 emit roots while they are growing on the 

 old plant, then it is an easy matter to 

 sever them saving the roots, pot them, 

 and get them to live, but with unrooted 

 sprouts it isn't always so easy unless one 

 has a close greenhouse, or a small propa- 

 gating box or frame inside his ordinary 

 greenhouse. 



The Flower Garden. 



I have just planted in the borders ot a 

 shrubbery a few of all the different kinds 

 of iris. Japanese, German, English and 

 Spanish and the miscellaneous kinds, like 

 Florentina, reticulata, Bakeri, Histrio, 

 Peacock, Lorteti and Foetidissima fol. var, 

 I planted them in trenches two feet deep 

 and a foot wide, filled in with well en- 

 riched earth, and put the iris about three 

 inches below the surface. (I) Do they 

 need protection for the winter? (2) And 

 if so, what and how much? And (3) 

 when should it be taken ofl? I can pro- 

 tect them with leaves, salt hay, a com- 



post of cow manure and oak leaves, or 

 the fresh horse manure and bedding just 

 as it is thrown out from the stable. The 

 ground has a slight slant and the trenches 

 are arranged so that the iris can be flooded 

 every day, or practically all the time, by 

 letting tiie hydrant water run at hali- 

 cock. But (4) will this be as good for the 

 other kinds of irisas for the Japanese and 

 German? X. 



South New Jersey. 



.4ns.— First let us separate them into 

 groups. The Japanese or Koempfer's irises 

 grow in strong tufts like the old Siberian 

 iris, and may be flooded all we want to; 

 foetidissima may be grown in a moist 

 border, in dampor flooded ground, and is 

 amenable to the same culture as Kcemp- 

 feri. The German irises have surface- 

 spreading thick rhizomes, and while they 

 like rich moistish ground, we have found 

 them very impatient of wet feet, and 

 must advise against flooding them. The 

 same with Florentina and Lorteti. The 

 English and Spanish irises are strictly 

 bulbous sorts, blooming in summer, and 

 like a warm, sheltered place and good 

 ground, but don't flood them. Reticulata, 

 Bakeriana, Histrio aid Peacock are also 

 bulbous species, but a difl^erent set from 

 the last two, and they all like sheltered 

 spots and all object to flooding. Some of 

 them, Reticulataand Histrio for instance, 

 bloom while the crocuses are with us in 

 spring. A'cemp/er/ should be planted with 

 the top just up to the surface of the 

 ground; surface-rhizomatous ones, like 

 the German, should be planted so that 

 the rhizomes are flat on the ground, but 

 not under it; and all the bulbous ones 

 under the ground about three inches deep, 

 as you have done, is good. (1) In 

 southern New Jersey probably all would 

 get along well enough without a winter 

 mulch, at the same time a mulching won't 

 hurt any of them. (2) Two or three 

 inches deep of well broken up rotted 

 manure spread broadcast over the ground 

 for all vigorous kinds, as Japanese, Ger- 

 man, foetidissima, Florentine, English and 

 Spanish, but in the case of the German 

 and Florentine place it aside from ofl" the 

 rhizomes, don't let it cover them, but a 

 thin sprinkling of salt haj' over them will 

 do them good. (3) About the end of 

 March or early in April, just before the 

 plants start into fresh growth. The 

 other bulbous irises may be mu'ched two 

 or three inches deep with half rotted 

 leaves well bro' en up, the compost of 

 cow manure and oak leaves that you 

 have if it is old and well unfastened. .\nd 

 a sprinkling of salt hay over that. But 

 great care must be exercised to remove 

 the hay in earliest spring so that the 

 flowers may come up unimpeded and 

 perfect. The under mulch of decayed 

 leaves, if rotted to earthly looseness, may 

 stay on altogether and the plants allowed 

 to come up through it. 



TflE FLOWBR GARDEN. 



We will tell you what we are doing 

 now, Nov. 9, and intend to keep on doing 

 till it is finished. We are going over the 

 borders cutting down such perennials as 

 Sedum spectabile. delphinium, physos- 

 tigia, Gaura Lindheimeri, tall veronicas, 

 pasonies, sun flowers, erect clematis, phlox, 

 asclepias, and the like, and clearing the 

 tops away to the rot pile. But we don't 

 cut over the low leaves of pyrethrum, the 

 peached-leaved bell flower, Heuchera san- 

 guinea, Statice latifolia, hardy pinks, 

 armerias, and others having persistent or 

 evergreen foliage, only the old flower 

 stems of these are cut off" and removed. 

 After having the borders all cleared off" in 



